Chess

By Robert Byrne

Published: October 11, 1994

Everything went wrong for Michael Adams last month in Linares, Spain, during his semifinal match for the Professional Chess Association's world championship. The 22-year-old English grandmaster was caught unacquainted in one game with an opening system that anyone playing on his high level should know. In another game, he came prepared with a surprise improvement, but half way through the series of critical moves, he discovered a critical flaw in his analysis. In still another game, he adopted a solid opening but was confronted with superior solidity and ground down.

When a whole series of mishaps like these take place, it is a good bet that overstrained nerves can be blamed. The tension mounts as one goes up the ladder toward a title match, in this case with Gary Kasparov of Russia in late 1995. It did not help that Adams's opponent was the brilliant 24-year-old Indian grandmaster Vishwanathan Anand. And throughout the series Anand never looked as though he had any trouble.

In Game 1, on Sept. 21, Adams tried to be clever by undertaking an opening he had never played before. But it failed to fluster Anand, who achieved a slight advantage and later snared the Englishman in a trap.

The surprise of the hypermodern Alekhine Defense, 1 . . . Nf6, was not enough to lure Anand into rushing forward with a mass of pawns that rather than squash the enemy, could easily prove overextended. He chose the conservative 2 e5 Nd5 3 d4 d6 4 Nf3, which is the most popular method of meeting this defense nowadays. A little space preponderance carefully held is better than a loose grip on something more ambitious.

The routine answer to 4 . . . de 5 Ne5 g6 is 6 Bc4, but Anand probably wanted to improvise and there are no objections to his 6 g3 and 7 Bg2.

After long preparation, Adams came out with 10 . . . Nd7. This was the reason the Larsen Variation starts with 4 . . . de 5 Ne5: White's knight is presented with a tempo of development at Move 5 with the intention of Black's regaining it at Move 11. The retreat with 11 Nf3 prevented simplification beneficial to Black.

Adams's 18 . . . Ne7 aimed at 19 . . . Ng6 to force 20 f4 so that the white queen bishop could not be used on the kingside.

On 19 f4, it would have been more efficient to double his rooks on the open d line with 19 . . . Rad8, 20 . . . Rd7 and 21 . . . Red8.

Anand could not snatch a pawn with 24 Ba7? because 24 . . . b6 traps his bishop.

It was necessary for Adams to get his bishop into play with 25 . . . f6 26 ef Bf6 even though this transaction exposed his e pawn as backward on a half-open file.

It was also correct for him to arrange for an exchange of a pair of bishops with 29 . . . Bd4, but after 30 Bd4, it was essential for him to recapture with 30 . . . R8d4. Then 31 Qe2 Qd7 32 c5 Ne7 still makes a battle of it. But Adams erred with 30 . . . R3d4? and after 31 Re1 Qf7 32 Bd5!, he had to lose material.